Great Oak Gazette

By Jack Dwyer

Summary
Despite the name of the franchise, Ben 10, implying that Ben only
has 10 transformations, it’s eventually revealed as early as season 2 of the
classic series that Ben has more than what he started off with. The episode
“The Big Tick,” (Ben 10) showed Ben gaining access to his 11th transformation, his Arburian Pelarota form – dubbed “Cannonbolt.” Ever since then, Ben has gained access to numerous other transformations, each one with brand new abilities. As of the end of Ben 10: Omniverse, he has been seen with over 60 different transformations. For those who don’t know: Ben 10 is a cartoon franchise created by Man of Action and owned by Cartoon Network. It follows the adventure of a young boy named Ben Tennyson, who is equipped with an alien watch-like device called the “Omnitrix.” This device allows the user to transform into a variety of alien species, each one equipped with their own sets of powers, abilities and weaknesses. Ben is seen utilizing his transformations in
creative ways, which gradually improve as he grows older. Because of this,
he is one of the best people to be wearing the Omnitrix. Many of these redesigns include re-proportioned body parts, and upcoming redesigns for Ben’s aliens may also have new abilities, fan-made names for both species and home planets, and even new conceptualizations altogether. Any changed or added details will be explicitly mentioned in the artist’s commentary.

Cannonbolt

Description: Cannonbolt is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of an Arburian Pelarota from the destroyed planet, Arburia. His most prominent ability involves him curling up into a seemingly indestructible ball-like form. This form allows Cannonbolt to traverse areas quickly, and he has used this ability to collide into enemies and surroundings. Cannonbolt can also act as a protective shield, by keeping items and even people inside of his shell when he’s curled up

Artist’s Commentary: Cannonbolt was also pretty hard to think of a new redesign for. I feel like simple aliens in general are hard to build off of since there isn’t really enough “ground” to build on in the first place. I eventually got the idea to alter the yellow parts so that it makes sense when he curls up into a ball, at least design-wise. I shaped the yellow bits on his back to look more angular, and I made the ones on his forearms create one angular pad whenever he curls up. I also gave him a small tail with more yellow pads, again, so it makes sense design-wise when he curls up into a ball.

Wildvine

Description: Wildvine is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Flourana from Flors Verdance. His plant-like physique and stretchy body makes him an excellent alien for Ben to use for easy transportation. He is also able to close his fly trap-like collar as a biological “helmet,” and is also able to transverse underground. The seeds on his back also act as throwable objects, that can be used as explosives or even smoke bombs.

Artist’s Commentary: Wildvine wasn’t too hard to think of a redesign for, especially since it’s a plant. One of the first things that came to mind was to make him a lot thinner, since he’s used by Ben to freely traverse areas more efficiently. I also thought to make him asymmetrical, since many plants are asymmetrical in some way. I also gave him an extra “chest eye” and made the ones on his shoulder blend into the vine pattern. I also gave him the power to spawn tentacles from his back as a call back to his design in Ben 10 (Reboot). I also made his “collar” look more like a mouth, since in “Ben 10: Secrets of the Omnitrix,” Flouranas could be seennacting as ambush predators, and I thought if their collars looked more like mouths, they could
look even scarier.

Spitter

Description: Spitter is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Spheroid from Scalpasc. His main ability is storing up saliva in his large mouth and spewing it out in a beam. The force in these beams of spit are strong enough to push back tanky items and enemies. His squishy amphibian-like body also makes him able to traverse underwater and squeeze into tight spaces with ease.

Artist’s Commentary: I immediately knew that for Spitter, I wanted to make it look ugly. This is of course to make Spitter actually look as if his saliva is acidic. I also made his proportions a little more blobbier, since given his spherical shape, I thought he could act as a “punching bag.” I knew I also wanted to give Spitter something else so that he’s not really a “clone” of Upchuck, so I also enhanced his ability to puff up. Using this upgraded power, he can now puff himself up and become a large bouncing ball as if he is filled with helium. Also, just for fun, I gave him an extra pair of arms to make him vaguely resemble a tardigrade (AKA: Water Bear).

Buzzshock

Description: Buzzshock is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Nosedeenian from Nosedeen Quasar. He is a battery-like alien who can generate large amounts of electricity, and he can even perform self-electromorphosis for creative mobility. He can also be used by Ben to self-duplication, and other abilities of his include: levitation, super speed.

Artist’s Commentary: Once again, like most simple aliens, Buzzshock was a huge challenge for me. Part of me wanted to give him some parts that made him look like a 9-Volt battery, but that already felt like a bit much. Eventually, I thought back to artist O. R. Ash’s idea for an Ultimate Buzzshock, and said that he wanted his ultimate form to be a visual nod to how in cartoons, being electrified exposes the characters’ skeletons. I then immediately thought this
idea would be extremely cool for Buzzshock’s redesign, and that it would also make sense, given how one of his abilities is self-electrophoresis. Obviously, since I didn’t want to plagiarize the idea too much, I made Buzzshock’s body vaguely look like a rib cage, and also so that it didn’t deviate too much from the original zig-zag pattern on his chest.

Arctiguana

Description: Arctiguana is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Polar Manzardill from X’Nelli. He is most prominently known for his ice breath, capable of freezing acres of land in a matter of seconds. His sleek lizard-like body also makes him very versatile, fast, and skilled in acrobatics.

Artist’s Commentary: An idea I thought would be fun for Arctiguana was to somewhat base his design off of Albedo’s ultimate Articguana transformation. Since that transformation has a giant glacier on its back, I thought Arctiguana’s back could have massive ice-like spikes on it. I also put some white patches where these spikes are, as to make it look akin to a giant mountain. Though I also made other parts of his body more slick, as to maintain the lizard-y
appearance of him.

Blitzwolfer

Description: Blitz-Wolfer is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Loban from Luna Lobo, of the Anur System. His abilities are all canine-like in nature, such as enhanced hearing, and a stronger sense of smell. His sharp claws and bulky physique also make him a good transformation for combat. His most unique ability, however, is his sonic howl. He is capable of splitting his mouth into four segments and releasing a loud sonic frequency capable of breaking through stone.

Artist’s Commentary: I didn’t really have many ideas for Blitz-Wolfer, in terms of really anything. Outside of the fins and the oversized forearms, all I could think was just “it’s a massive wolf, what am I going to do with this???” I did keep the large hunch on his back in his original design and made the slits on his snout more segmented. I ended up making the tentacle-like hair more part of his body, and they now extend down to his tail.

Upchuck

Description: Upchuck is Ben Tennysons’s transformation of a Gourmand (Up = Perk, Down=Murk), whose species is known to consume entire planets when migrating to a new one.

Their current home planet is Peptos XII. Upchuck’s main ability involves eating large amounts of masses, including powerful amounts of energy, only to then regurgitate this eaten mass and use it as a “barf bomb.” Both species of Gourmand also have extremely long and elastic tongues, which makes them able to eat easier.
Artist’s Commentary: There wasn’t much to really do for Upchuck, aside from making the tails of both species more apparent in their designs. I also thought to make their chins look more wrinkly so people get the idea that Gourmands are themed around eating. I also really liked how the original suit looked on Upchuck, so I brought that back for both transformations. I did make the suits different though, since I didn’t want them to look too similar.

Snare-Oh

Description: Snare-Oh is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Thep Khufan from Anur Khufos of the Anur System. His full anatomy consists of a small head held up by thin appendages reminiscent of wrappings, which are able to separate at will, and create “gaps” in his body. These gaps allow projectiles to pass through his body, making them useful for traversing through projectiles or tight spaces. His sleek body also makes him extremely agile.

Artist’s Commentary: While thinking of redesigns for Snare-Oh, I started thinking of him as just an extremely strong jellyfish, especially since the “wrapping” of his body is actually extremely strong skin. So I made him look just a little more jellyfish by giving the cloth on his head some more segments (but also slightly vague in that area). I also decided to give certain groups of cloths “gauntlets,” particularly the limbs, since it did bother me how the limbs looked like a complete body part splitting into fingers/toes.

Frankenstrike

Description: Frankenstrike is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Transylian from Anur Transyl of the Anur System. He is one of Ben’s physically strongest electrical transformations, given his bulky physique, and he can even absorb electricity to become even stronger. He is able to generate large amounts of electricity and weaponize them to incredible lengths. He is also one of Ben’s most scientifically intelligent transformations, capable of creating extremely
powerful machines.

Artist’s Commentary: There are elements about Frankenstrike’s design in Ben 10: Omniverse that I decided to keep in his redesign, solely because I thought it made him look more intimidating. Primarily, it was the proportions of the design, since I felt it makes him look a lot more monster-y. I also really liked how the massive conductors were placed on his shoulders to give emphasis on his hunch. I also thought it would be interesting to make him look just a little
more artificial and insane, but still look organic, as if this transformation’s DNA sample was performing experiments on itself.

Ditto

Description: Ditto is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a Splixon from Hathor. His most prominent power is his ability of self-duplication, and being able to spawn seemingly infinite clones. This cloning ability can be useful if the transformation is being chased down or stretched apart, since it can duplicate itself for better evasion.

Artist’s Commentary: I think there are elements of both designs for Ditto that I like more. For instance, I like how in Ben 10 (Classic), the way he duplicates looks as if his own body is stretching, but I also liked how blobby his proportions were in Ben 10: Omniverse. I also thought it would be kind of funny if his suit vaguely resemble common character design elements in
rubber hose animations. Example, his hands now vaguely resemble the gloves seen on characters such as Mickey Mouse.

Eye Guy

Description: Eye Guy is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of an Opticoid from Sightra. As per his name, he is equipped with 360 vision. His eyes are also his main source of power, since they are used to shoot beams of fire, plasma, and ice. Ben can also fuse all of these eyes together into an even larger eye in the middle of his chest, causing an even more powerful beam to be exerted.

Artist’s Commentary: I really liked how funny the fleshy proportion looked on Eye Guy’s original design, so I decided to take that and amp it up. I also did this because I also felt like it was appropriate for how I would place the eyes now. With the original designs, the eyes felt like they were plopped on his body without any real “flow” with how they’re placed – to me, at least. As such, I made his eyes look as if they are being engulfed by his muscles, which I feel both
makes the eyes look more appropriate in the design, and I feel it looks more mysterious in a sense, because if the eyes are all “hidden,” it becomes unknown as to how many eyes are really on his body.

Way Big

Description: Way Big is Ben Tennyson’s transformation of a To’kustar, which are gargantuan life forms born from cosmic storms, rather than inhabiting a home planet. He is the largest out of all of Ben’s transformations, being a total of 120 feet tall in his base form. His large size is also accompanied by a large amount of physical strength. Furthermore, if Waybig crosses his arms, he can emit a powerful beam of energy strong enough to blast through most objects.

Artist’s Commentary: Since To’kustars are born in cosmic storms, and not planets, I figured that genetically speaking, they would be “unstable.” To represent this instability, I put a lot more random details on Waybig’s design, and make it look like a hybrid of several different types of organisms. For example, there’s some bits that make Waybig look like it’s made of fungi, others make it look like a fish, and so on. I also made him a little bit more hunched over, so that it can now look as if he’s hovering over his enemies. I also thought he could look scarier if his face looked more eldritch.